Iran Rejects Claims about Macron’s Conditions for Visiting Tehran

A member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, claimed that France’s conditions have been announced in a letter to Iran.

In a statement on Tuesday, Qassemi strongly rejected the claim and stressed that the foreign ministry, the foreign minister, or even any of Iranian embassies are not aware of such letter.

He said such claims are definitely against Iran’s national interests, and asked the MP to avoid raising baseless allegations.

Qassemi also noted that the era of setting conditions for other countries is over, and Iran’s principled policies in this regard are totally clear.

In an interview with the Persian-language website Alef, Ghoddousi claimed the letter had been sent by French foreign minister to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zairf.

According to Ghoddousi, one of Macron’s conditions was holding talks with the Islamic Revolution’s Leader.

“Sitting for talks with Iranian officials over the future of the region as well as Iran’s missile programs is another condition set by France,” he claimed.

The Iranian lawmaker also said the French side is seeking to prepare the grounds for trilateral talks among the US and Saudi Arabia on the one hand and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other hand over the regional and Yemen developments.

Elsewhere in the interview, the Iranian lawmaker stressed as the Leader of Islamic revolution has repeated announced the Europeans are not “in a position to interfere in the internal affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held phone talks with his French counterpart two months ago.

Following the talks, French presidential office issued a statement saying during the talks, the two sides discussed Rouhani’s invitation of Macron to visit Iran. If the visit is made, Macron will be the first French president visiting Iran since 1971.

Earlier, France announced Macron is set to visit Iran at the top of a high-ranking delegation in 2018.

France sought to normalize relations with Iran after the 2015 nuclear deal. It has, however, been taking a harder stance on matters beyond the deal, including Iran’s missile program and its regional role.

Iran has been counting on Europe’s support to counterbalance Trump’s attacks on the nuclear accord. After Macron’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Iran has said it wanted him to take a clearer stance and to “gauge Middle East developments with more awareness.”